Greetings to the Pricescope Community,
I have been lurking in the forums for a while now and have learned a great deal about diamonds thanks to all of you and for that I am grateful. I will soon be purchasing a diamond for an e-ring and would like to ask a few questions.
My Plan:
Ct
Cut excellent>
Color
Clarity
Budget: ~$10 - 10.5K
I have specked out a number of diamonds on Bluenile, , WhiteFlash, etc. and have located a number of stones with these specks and narrowed them down by predicted performance on HCA calculator. For the most part these parameters yield stones slightly over budget when taxes are added.
For a while I had wanted a G color stone with VS1 clarity with an Ideal or excellent cut, but after reading a bit more I decided to go with H and VS1.
Qs:
1) I am wondering if going down on clarity to a VS2 to bring the stone into the budget would be advisable? I am a bit hesitant as my reading has alerted me to the concept of an "eye-clean" diamond and I am worried that a VS2 would be less likely to be "eye-clean" compared to a VS1 (especially when buying online where visual inspection before purchase is not an option)
2) Also, is the H color significantly different from a G? Should I opt for a G-VS2 instead of an H-VS1? Though I have noted that the former tends to be a more expensive combination.
3) Is my budget unreasonable? I would like a stone that is somewhere near 1.5Ct and am considering stones in the 1.4 - 1.49 range though I have not noted much in the way of savings from the smaller stones when number and location of inclusions and predicted HCA scores are taken into account.
Any help will be appreciated.
-Juan